During the night of April 14th thru the morning of 15th 2014, a total eclipse of the Moon occurred, visible across the United States.Carl spent the night out in his yard tending his camera with a 400-mm lens.
The red color is due to reflected light from sunrises and sunsets taking place on Earth, 238,000 mile away.
In the images shot during the red phase, that tiny white spot is Spica.
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As everyone knows, I have become a big fan of the desert since moving to Las Vegas. For those who have asked how I could possibly live far from the ocean, I reply that I have found the desert to be merely another ocean with a different color palette.
After traveling to all the tropical seas of the world, and many of the countries around them, the southwest desert was a revelation. As you can see in my Desert Photography galleries the colors and forms are unlike anything I have seen in my world travels.
The dry and dusty sky is also conducive to spectacular sunrises and sunsets. For those of us who have wandered the world taking pictures of sunsets and clouds everywhere, it is a treat to go for a morning walk near one’s home and have a fabulous sunrise alight as you stand there watching.
Viva Las Vegas!
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The Eclipse
The Annular Solar Eclipse of May 20, 2012
When I first scheduled a ten-day Utah visit to begin on May 21, I was delighted to learn that I could leave one day earlier and photograph the annular eclipse, whose center would pass right over Cedar City, Utah.
During the mid-afternoon of May 20, I set up on a hillside above the city with a tripod-mounted DSLR and a 100-400 mm lens with a 10-f/stop neutral density filter. Then, with much excitement I began taking at least one shot per minute for the full two-hour duration of the eclipse.
At the height of the eclipse, the Moon passing in front of the Sun created a visual effect known as the ‘Ring of Fire.’
Luckily, the final bit of Moon-shadow left the Sun’s image mere seconds before a mountain on the horizon began to intrude into it.
The sequence makes an enjoyable animation, which I hope you’ll enjoy. The annular solar eclipse of May 20, 2012.mp4 (youtube.com)
The Transit of Venus
The Transit of Venus-June 5, 2012
Capping a month of celestial spectaculars, on June 5 Venus passed between the Earth and Sun, a phenomenon known as the transit of Venus.
Astronomers use their observations both to calculate the size of the Sun more accurately, but the size of the Solar System as well.
Venus, Earth and the Sun are not exactly on the same plane of rotation, so Venus as seen from Earth is usually above or below the Sun. In rare occasions, the three line up to give astronomers a precious opportunity. The transit lasted over six hours, and after a while I felt I had recorded it sufficiently for an amateur.
The next transit of Venus does not occur until the year 2117, illustrating their rarity.
Moon Over Vegas!
The Perigee Moon of May 6, 2012 was the biggest since 1993. The Moon’s elliptical orbit brings it closer to the Earth (called Perigee) and farther away (called Apogee).
This perigee Moon was fourteen percent larger and thirty percent brighter than the average full Moon. It came up through a thick layer of smoke from a fire in Arizona, blown our way by high winds. This at first obscured the Moon entirely, then gave it a rich orange tint as it rose above the smoke.
Aside from the smoke layer, the evening was clear, and yielded some spectacular images. Just for fun, I Photoshopped an oversized orange Moon into two of the images. Confession is good for the soul…
I have also included some Moon images from prior cycles, showing surface detail.
Other photos I have capture are located in Desert Photography galleries
We download a small library of images to display on each of these gallery pages. That takes a number of seconds, but we think you will very much enjoy the result!
Older Moon Photos
On November 12-15, 2009, a large number of skydivers converged from places like Seattle and Houston at the Mesquite, Nevada Airport. There, they were engaged in setting a Nevada record for most skydivers hitting the silk at one time.
Carl traveled there to photograph the event, so Carl traveled there to see the jumps. It was quite impressive when three aircraft filled with skydivers emptied out 12,500 feet above us, and well over forty jumpers all headed for their landing simultaneously.
For any skydivers Carl met in Mesquite, please contact him at divxprt!@cox.net and let him know your colors. He has shots of many of you, but can only identify you by your suit and canopy colors!
During 2009 and 2010, Carl made a number of trips to the town of Mesquite, about 90 miles North of Las Vegas. There, a local sky-diving club put on regular weekend jumps which made for exciting photography. The planes would often be releasing the jumpers at altitudes of 12,500 feet, so getting pictures of jumpers exiting the planes were particularly challenging. |
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Balloon Festival—October 25-27, 2013
On a gloriously sunny, calm Fall weekend, a mass balloon ascent was held in Las Vegas to raise funds for first responders. Since it was only about five miles from my home, I drove down there on all three mornings to take advantage of the warm light.Fifteen balloons and their crews came in from several surrounding states as well as Nevada. They offered paid rides for the people who wanted to go up for an hour in the sky above us. For the intrepid balloonists, the lack of wind made recovery of the balloons and passengers quite easy, while the clear weather offered some beautiful scenery of our local mountains..
A small park with rides was set up outside one of our local hospitals, with a Ferris wheel and other exciting rides. The children swarmed the rides, their entertainment made it possible because residents could access the event by highway from throughout the Vegas Valley.
We download a small library of images to display on each of these gallery pages. That takes a number of seconds, but we think you will very much enjoy the result!
Las Vegas
Lots of Videos !!!
Transit of Mercury May 9, 2016
The planet Mercury is so tiny compared with the vast bulk of the Sun that is is hard for us amateurs to capture. I decided to give it a try, and was gratified that I even managed to record the event.
Here are some links on the event as background:
http://earthsky.org/tonight/mercury-transit-may-9-2016-how-to-watch
http://www.space.com/32806-why-mercury-transit-of-sun-rare-event.htmlhttp://www.space.com/32766-transit-of-mercury-complete-coverage.html
| Return to Home Page | E-mail Carl Roessler at divxprt@cox.net | Photos |
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